What's your take? Arizona immigration law pushes Congress into a political minefield

Associated PressProtesters at a rally Sunday at the Arizona Capitol called on President Barack Obama to fight a tough new Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants, promising to march in the streets and invite arrest by refusing to comply if the measure goes into effect. WASHINGTON -- Arizona's tough new law has Democrats and Republicans alike grappling with the volatile issue of immigration, a topic that neither party wanted to fight over just before important midterm elections.

As lawmakers learned during the last national debate on immigration, in 2007, the issue incites passions across the country, affecting everything from national security to states' rights to racial ambitions and resentments. It's fraught with political minefields.

Thus, President Barack Obama, the Democrats who control Congress and Republicans who are in the minority are doing a delicate dance, mindful not to anger their electoral bases -- or independents -- on the issue.

Immigration touches every rung of American politics, from security issues like border control and terrorist profiling to domestic affairs like education and health care. American cultural issues like race, class and language also are in play. And every level of government, from federal agencies to town councils, is trying to deal with immigration issues.

That means businesses, labor unions, religious groups, immigrant advocacy organizations and other interests all have a stake -- and all are likely to hold candidates accountable this fall.

Republicans, hoping to make inroads with the fast-growing Hispanic population, are wary of being portrayed as xenophobic. Democrats fear the characterization that they are weak on national security.

"This really sort of throws down the gauntlet for both parties," said Catherine Lee, a Rutgers University sociology professor focused on immigration reform politics. She said it's too early to say which party will benefit from immigration reform being out front. "That will depend on how the parties handle the issue and frame the debate going forward."

Protests against the Arizona law erupted overnight, and the political battle lines were quickly drawn.

Conservatives applauded the measure as necessary to stop a flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico. Liberals decried it as a threat to civil rights. The Roman Catholic cardinal in Los Angeles compared the law's rules to Nazism.

Here's what some commentators are saying:

Anti-immigrant legislation: Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, attorney Michael Yaki arges that the new law is a strike against immigrants that will encourage vigilante actions.

"This law gives free license to vigilantes. Indeed, this law is a vigilante law, in the strictest definition, for it truly empowers Arizona to take the law into its own hands, without recourse or regard for the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment. Defenders of the law say that there is no constitutional protection for illegal immigrants -- and by the way, they are wrong -- but there are plenty of protections for American citizens who may, to the overzealous and unsophisticated, be from the same country as a person here illegally. Those protections are compromised by this law."

Inaction forced Arizona into action: U.S.News & World Report's Peter Roff writes that inaction and incompetence at the federal level forced the state into action.

"Consider that all along America's southwestern border criminal activities have spilled over into the United States from Mexico, leading to kidnappings, drive-by shootings and murder. In many places the streets are increasingly less safe for everyone, American-born and immigrant, legal and illegal. Who is prepared to argue that drastic measures are not appropriate to combat this problem, especially since the authorities responsible for the security of the border and the enforcement of immigration laws-the federal government-are unwilling to step up and shoulder the responsibilities they already have?

"It is either the inaction or incompetence of the federal government to deal effectively with the very real threats to national and personal security that forced Brewer's hand. Years of neglect by Democrats and Republicans alike had created a variety of tipping points where illegal immigration intersects with crime, economic development, education, healthcare, and jobs."

A reasoned approach: The American Spectator's W. James Antle III contends that the law isn't an extreme measure, but rather a moderate approach toward addressing illegal immigration.

"I think the sturm and drang over the Arizona law is misguided. Far from authorizing local police officers to pull Hispanics from crowds at random and demand to see proof of legal residency, the law requires a prior "legal contact" -- that is, there needs to already be something going on, like an arrest or a traffic stop. The law specifically bans race and ethnicity as the sole grounds for a "reasonable suspicion" of illegal presence in the United States. Noncitizens have been legally required to carry proof of legal residence on their persons for 70 years."

A responsibility of citizenship: Writing for the Huffington Post, California Assemblywoman Karen Bass argues that every responsibile citizen should be appalled by Arizona's new law.

"The outrageous law just signed by Governor Jan Brewer hearkens back to the days of apartheid South Africa and the pass cards Blacks had to carry in that country. And it hearkens back to every recession and period of economic upheaval we've faced in this country, when people of color and people who are somehow considered "other" become irrational targets of anger and retribution. Only in this case, the approval for such targeting isn't coming with the traditional wink and a nod and a look the other way from public officials, this time it's being sanctified with a Governor's signature and done under the color of law."

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